YE WILL NOT COME TO ME - Robert Murray Mcchene

“And ye will not come to me, that ye might have life.”—John v., 40.

THERE is nothing more sad, and nothing more strange than that when there is a Saviour that is enough for all the world, so few should come to him to be saved. If a lifeboat were sent out to a wreck, sufficient to save all the crew, and if it came back with less than half of them, you would inquire, with anxiety, why the rest had not been saved by it. Just so, when Christ has come to seek and save that which was lost, and yet the vast majority are unsaved, it behoves us to inquire why so many are not saved by Christ. We have the answer in these words: “Ye will not come to me, that ye might have life.”

Doctrine. Sinners are lost, not by reason of anything in Christ, but by reason of something in themselves. They will not come to Christ, that they might have life.

I. Show that it is not by reason of anything in Christ that sinners are lost.

1. It is not because Christ is not sufficient to save all.

The whole Bible shows that Christ is quite sufficient to save all the world—that all the world would be saved, if all the world were to come to Christ: “Behold the Lamb of God that taketh away the sins of the world.” The meaning of that is, not that the sins of the whole world are now taken away. It is quite plain that the whole world is not forgiven at present. (1.) Because the whole world is not saved. (2.) Because God everywhere calls sinners to repentance, and the first work of the Spirit is to convince of sin— of the heavy burden that is now lying on Christless souls. (3.) Because forgiveness in the Bible is everywhere attached to believing. When they brought to Jesus a man sick of the palsy, Jesus, seeing his faith, said unto him: “Son, be of good cheer; thy sins are forgiven thee.” Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved. The simple truth of the Bible is, that Christ hath suffered and died in the stead of sinners—as a common person in their stead; and every man that is a sinner hath a right to come.

Christ is quite sufficient for all, and I would prove it by this argument: If he was sufficient for one sinner, then he must be sufficient for all. The great difficulty with God (I speak as a man) was, not how to admit many sinners into his favour, but how to admit one sinner into his favour. If that difficulty has been got over in Jesus Christ, then the whole difficulty has been got over. If one sinner may come unto God clothed in Christ, then all sinners may. If one sinner may have peace with God, and God be yet just and glorious, then every sinner may have peace with him. If Christ was enough for Abel, then he is enough for all that come after. If one dying thief may look to him and be saved, so may every dying thief. If one trembling jailer may believe on Jesus, and rejoice believing, so may every other trembling sinner. O brethren! you may doubt and wrangle about whether Christ be enough for your soul, but if you die Christless, you will see that there was room enough under his wings, but you would not.

2. Sinners are lost, not because Christ is unwilling to save all. The whole Bible shows that Christ is quite willing and anxious that all sinners should come to him. The city of refuge in the Old Testament was a type of Christ; and you remember that its gates were open by night and by day. The arms of Christ were nailed wide open, when he hung upon the cross; and this was a figure of his wide willingness to save all, as he said:” I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me.” But though his arms were firmly nailed, they are more firmly nailed wide open now, by his love and compassion for perishing sinners, than ever they were nailed to the tree.

There is no unwillingness in the heart of Jesus Christ. When people are willing and anxious about something, they do everything that lies in their power to bring it to pass. So did Jesus Christ: “What could have been done more for my vineyard, that I have not done in it?” But if they are very anxious, they will attempt it again and again. So did Jesus Christ: “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, how often would I have gathered your children as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not!” But if they are still more anxious, they will be grieved if they are disappointed. So was Jesus Christ: “When he came near, he beheld the city, and wept over it.” But if they are very anxious, they will suffer pain rather than lose their object. So did Jesus Christ: The good Shepherd gave his life for the sheep. Ah! dear brethren, if you perish, it is not because Jesus wishes you to perish.

A word to anxious souls. How strange it is that anxious souls do most of all doubt the willingness of Christ to be their Saviour; yet these should least of all doubt him. If he is a willing Saviour to any, O surely he is a willing Saviour to a weary soul! Remember the blind beggar of Jericho. He was in your case— blind and helpless—and he cried: “Jesus, thou son of David, have mercy upon me.” And when the crowd bade him hold his peace, he cried so much the more. Was Jesus unwilling to be that beggar’s Saviour? He stood still, and commanded him to be brought, and said: “Thy faith hath made thee whole.” He is the same willing Saviour still. Cry after him; and, though the world may bid you hold your peace, cry after him just so much the more.

A word to careless souls. You say Christ may be a willing Saviour to others, but surely not to you. O yes! he is quite willing for you too. See him sitting by the well of Samaria, convincing one poor sinful woman of her sins, and leading her to himself. He is the same Saviour toward you this day. If you do perish, it is not because Christ is willing. He wills all men to be saved, and to come to the knowledge of the truth. He pleads with you, and says: “Turn ye, turn ye, why will ye die?”

II. True reasons why men do not come to Jesus Christ. It is because they will not come. The reason is not in Christ, but in themselves.

1. Ignorance of Jesus Christ is one reason why sinners do not come to him. So it was with the Jews. They, being ignorant of God’s righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, would not submit themselves to the righteousness of God. And so it is with many sinners amongst us. They will not come to Jesus Christ, because they do not know him. It is quite amazing the great ignorance which exists in the midst of us. Some who have lived under the preached Word for years, yet do not know who Jesus Christ is. He is an utter stranger to them. Some do not know from whence he came, or whither he has gone, or who sent him into the world, or why he came, and why he suffered and obeyed. Many more have no personal knowledge of Jesus Christ. They have had no revelation of Christ made to them. They are ignorant of his beauty and fitness to their own case as a Saviour; and therefore they will not come to Christ to have life. In a shower of rain, you would not turn aside into a shelter unless you knew that there was a shelter there. Though you had lived at the time of the flood, if you lived in complete ignorance of the ark, it is plain you would not have fled to it; or even if you had known it, and seen it, and heard of it, yet if you did not know the use of it, you would never have fled to it. So is it with sinners now. Many do not know about Jesus Christ, though he is the only ark; and therefore they will not come to him. Many know something about Jesus Christ, but they do not know the use of him to their perishing souls; and so they also will not come to Christ to have life.

Do not live in ignorance of him, dear souls, I beseech you. Seek for him as for silver, yea, search for him as for hid treasures. Do not say you are too old to learn. If the Spirit be your teacher, he can make it quite easy. He can take of the things of Christ, and show them unto you. Do not say you are too young to learn. Happiest they who know him soonest! Happy lambs, that are soon gathered into the Saviour’s bosom!

2. Another reason why sinners do not come to Christ is, that they have no sense that they need him. If you had slain a man, but had no sense that the blood-avenger was pursuing you, you would not flee to the city of refuge. If your vessel were sinking, but you did not perceive it, you would not get into the life-boat. If you were sick and dying, but had no sense of it, you would not send for the physician. Just so, if you have no sense of being under the wrath of God, and exposed to hell, you will not come to Christ, that you may have life. If you look around, you will see that the most of men have no feeling of anxiety about their souls. You will find men anxious about their families—about their money or their goods— about their character in the world; but, ah! where do you find men anxious about their souls? If you ask me why so few come to Jesus Christ, I answer, Because so few are anxious about their souls. Now, if a man be never awakened to flee from wrath, it is plain and certain that he will never come to Jesus Christ. The three thousand were pricked in their hearts, and then inquired after Christ. The jailer trembled for his soul, and then was brought to rejoice in Christ Jesus. But no one was ever brought to Christ without being convinced of sin.

Careless persons, you should seek these convictions—you should cry to God for them—you should try to get your heart made alive to the sadness of your natural condition; for if you are never awakened, you will never come to Jesus Christ—you will never be saved.

Anxious persons, you should seek to keep up these convictions. They are easily lost. You should cry to God to make them deeper on your heart. If you lose them, they may never come back. You may become another Lot’s wife—a pillar of salt. If you lose them, you will never come to Christ, and never be saved.

3. A third reason why sinners do not come to Christ is, that the heart rises against him. Many are brought, in some measure, to a sense of their sin and lost condition, who yet cannot be persuaded to come to Jesus Christ. It is not anything in Christ that prevents them—it is something that rises up in their own heart. Christ is quite open—he is a door which no man can shut; and they would fain be at rest in him, and yet their proud heart rises up against him.

There may be two reasons for this: (1.) Perhaps your anxiety has set you upon establishing your own righteousness; and, therefore, you are too proud to come to Jesus Christ. This was the way with the Jews. They were not only ignorant of God’s righteousness, but they went about to establish their own righteousness; and, therefore, they -would not submit to the righteousness of God. Perhaps you thought, when you were first awakened, that you would soon find your way to peace. You thought, by tears, and prayers, and amendment of your life, to blot out past sin. You have been making a false Christ to yourself, and that is the reason you do not like the true Christ; and Christ says of you: “Ye will not come to me, that ye might have life.” To come to Christ, you would need to forsake your own righteousness—to confess that your wisdom is folly—to lie down empty, and vile, and without praise, and to consent that Jesus Christ shall have all the praise; but your proud, selfflattering heart rises against this; and this is the reason you perish: “You will not come to me, that you might have life.” (2.) Another way in which anxious souls keep away from Christ is this: You have been shaken off from all dependence on your own repentance, or prayers, or amendment, to make you righteous in the sight of God. You have laid you down in the dust, and confessed that, if ever you are to be justified, it must be through the obedience and sufferings of the Son of God. Now, you have lain so long thus emptied, that you think Jesus Christ should have been revealed to you by this time. In a word, you have been humbling yourself to make yourself worthy of Jesus Christ. Alas! this is a still prouder thought than the one before. You are not seeking to buy forgiveness from God by your humblings and by your tears, but you are seeking to buy Christ from God by these humblings. You think that your humblings and tears deserve Christ; so that you have been attempting to buy that which buys forgiveness. This is a deep snare of the devil, which hinders many anxious souls from coming to Jesus Christ without money and without price.

There is reason to think that many souls perish in this way. They fulfil this sad word of Christ: “Ye will not come to me, that ye might have life.” I would leave two directions with anxious souls. (1.) You must be made willing to come to Jesus Christ, if you would be saved. You cannot be saved against your will. Some people have hopes that they shall be lifted into Christ against their will. This is impossible. Noah was not lifted into the ark, but God said: “Come in.” So Christ’s people are a willing people. They come willingly with all their heart and soul. Not only do they flee willingly from wrath, but they flee willingly to Jesus Christ—they choose to be saved by him rather than any other way. If there were ten thousand other saviours, they would still choose Christ; for he is the chiefest among ten thousand, and they feel it sweetest and best to be nothing and have nothing, that Christ may be all in all. (2.) God only can bend your will to come to Jesus Christ: “No man can call Jesus Lord, but by the Holy Ghost.” “No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him.” It is God that must beat down all your proud imaginations. It is he that must reveal your guilt and nakedness. He must make you feel the emptiness and sin of all your selfrighteousness. He must reveal the beauty of Christ unto yo —his comeliness—his desirableness. He must convince you that it is sweetest to have no praise, and to let Jesus have the whole. Oh! seek the teaching of God. The teaching of man is a mere dream, if you have not the teaching of God. Cry night and day for the inward teaching of the Spirit. “Every man, therefore, that hath heard and hath learned of the Father, cometh unto me;” and, “Him that cometh unto me I will in no wise cast out.”

III. The sinfulness of not coming to Jesus Christ.

The words of Jesus are full of pathos—enough to break the proudest heart: “Ye will not come to me, that ye might have life.”

1. The greatness of the Saviour shows the sinfulness of not coming to him. He is the eternal Son of God whom sinners are despising. John bore witness of him—his miracles bore witness to him—his Father bore witness of him—the Scriptures, on every page, testify of him; yet ye will not come to him, that ye might have life. It is the Son of God that hath undertaken the doing and dying of all in the stead of sinners; and yet you, a trembling sinner, will not honour him so much as to trust your soul upon his finished work. Ah! how shall we escape, if we neglect so great a salvation?

2. The loveliness of the Saviour shows the sin of not coming to him. Methinks there is a touch of heaven’s melody in these words: “Ye will not come to me.” I know not whether they more express the high indignation of an insulted Saviour, or the tender compassion of him that wept upon the Mount of Olives, over Jerusalem. It is as if he said: I have left the bosom of the Father, to suffer, and bleed, and die, for sinners, even the chief; yet, O sin ner! ye will not come unto me. I have sought the lost sheep over mountain and hill—I have stretched out my hands all the day to the gainsaying and disobedient—I have cried after sinners, and wept over sinners; and yet ye will not come to me, that ye might have life. Ah! dear brethren, if sin against love be the blackest sin under the blue vault of heaven, this is your sin, because ye trample under foot the blood of the Son of God, and do despite unto the gentle Spirit of grace.

3. The very anxiety of some sinners increases their sin. Some sinners are very anxious about their souls, yet will not come to Jesus Christ. They are in search of a saviour, but they will not have Jesus Christ. Are there not some of you who would do anything else to be saved: “Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams, or with tens of thousands of rivers of oil? Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul V If we would bid you pray and weep, you would do that—if we would bid you fast and use the shirt of hair, you would do that—if we would bid you afflict your soul and body, and make pilgrimage to the Holy Land, you would do that.—if we would bid you live as monks and nuns, you would do that, as thousands are doing this day; but when we say, Come to Christ, ah! You will not do that. Ah! proud, sinful, self-ruining heart, you would choose any balm but the Balm of Gilead —any saviour but the Son of God.

Oh! that these words of the sweet Saviour, whom you thus despise, would pierce to the very bottom of your soul: “Ye will not come to me, that ye might have life.”

St. Peter’s, July 30, 1837.